U.K. Leads European Venture-Capital Funding, but Russia Is Fastest Growing
Data on venture-capital funding show the extent of the boom in Russia’s technology sector over the past six years.
Feb 06, 2013
We wrote that the U.K. led the overall European venture-funding pecking order, followed by Germany, France and the Netherlands. That was for all sectors, based on data produced by Dow Jones VentureSource.
Looking at the numbers for just the tech sector, a rather different pecking order emerges.
The revised tech figures push the Netherlands right off the grid (there was a large deal in 2012 in the biopharmaceuticals sector, which is why the Netherlands was ranked fourth overall). As of 2012, the top five nations were, in order: the U.K. (ˆ867.46 million), France (ˆ508.76 million), Germany (ˆ431 million), Russia (ˆ236.55 million) and Sweden (ˆ88.93 million).
Semiconductor deals have been removed from the data, because the total number of deals isn’t that large and because a small number of big transactions tends to distort the figures. All up, the data cover business support services, consumer information services, media and content, retailers, travel and leisure, communications and networking, electronics and computer hardware, and software.
The dramatic growth in venture-capital funds raised by Russia is striking. Just two years ago, Russia was behind Ireland, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden. In 2006, according to the VentureSource data, Russia raised just ˆ5 million. Over the last four years the amount raised has gone up by nearly a factor of 10, from ˆ25.9 million in 2009, ˆ37.76 million in 2010 to ˆ185.79 million in 2011 and ˆ236.55 million last year.
It was suggested that our original definition of the tech sector was too narrow, and did not include, for example, e-commerce. With that adjustment, the rankings have changed slightly. Spain drops out of the top five to be replaced by Sweden. Russia’s growth becomes more pronounced.
Looking at the numbers for just the tech sector, a rather different pecking order emerges.
The revised tech figures push the Netherlands right off the grid (there was a large deal in 2012 in the biopharmaceuticals sector, which is why the Netherlands was ranked fourth overall). As of 2012, the top five nations were, in order: the U.K. (ˆ867.46 million), France (ˆ508.76 million), Germany (ˆ431 million), Russia (ˆ236.55 million) and Sweden (ˆ88.93 million).
Semiconductor deals have been removed from the data, because the total number of deals isn’t that large and because a small number of big transactions tends to distort the figures. All up, the data cover business support services, consumer information services, media and content, retailers, travel and leisure, communications and networking, electronics and computer hardware, and software.
The dramatic growth in venture-capital funds raised by Russia is striking. Just two years ago, Russia was behind Ireland, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden. In 2006, according to the VentureSource data, Russia raised just ˆ5 million. Over the last four years the amount raised has gone up by nearly a factor of 10, from ˆ25.9 million in 2009, ˆ37.76 million in 2010 to ˆ185.79 million in 2011 and ˆ236.55 million last year.
It was suggested that our original definition of the tech sector was too narrow, and did not include, for example, e-commerce. With that adjustment, the rankings have changed slightly. Spain drops out of the top five to be replaced by Sweden. Russia’s growth becomes more pronounced.